- A Gisborne mansion built from recycled materials, including bridges and commercial buildings, is for sale.
- The five-bedroom home features turrets, stained glass windows, and a swimming pool in the Waimata River.
- The property, with an RV of $2.195m, offers potential for subdivision and is attracting interest.
A hidden Gisborne mansion built from recycled bridges and the remains of multiple commercial buildings has hit the market for sale for the first time in almost 25 years.
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The five-bedroom castle-like home at 83 Riverside Road, in Whataupoko, comes with its own open-air swimming pool, AKA the Waimata River, a “bike shed” fit for 9-plus bicycles, and a sleepout for the teenagers.
The property, which comes complete with turrets and stained glass windows, was built in the 1980s by Geoff Thorpe, who owns a well-known Gisborne avocado tree firm.
Thorpe used recycled materials salvaged from all over New Zealand and as far afield as Australia, starting small but expanding as his family grew.
The castle was built in the 1980s from salvaged material. Photo / Supplied
The vendor says the house was unlike anything he had seen before when he bought it. Photo / Supplied
Thorpe and his brother John would haul all manner of wood and other salvaged supplies back to the property and incorporate them into the build.
Gems included chunky golden kauri beams from the Kaiti freezing works, which hold up the kitchen, and dark jarrah from the former Common Shelton building where Gisborne’s Treble Court mall now stands.
The brothers also saved totara from the nurses’ home at Cook Hospital, and even cut up an eight-legged historic wooden water tower.
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The bricks used in the house were sourced from the Eastern and Central Bottling Company on Gisborne's Aberdeen Road, and windows started life in an old Wairarapa Presbyterian church. Local banks, hotels, and even the local Inland Revenue Department have contributed to the home.
Vendor Martyn St John bought the home from Thorpe in 2001 for just over $400,000. He had not long moved from the UK to New Zealand when he found himself in Gisborne looking for a house. 83 Riverside Road was unlike anything he’d ever seen in England, but it was big enough for him and his four children. “It’s a house you either think is lovely or otherwise. I think it’s lovely,” he said.
“There’s so much stained glass and so much wood. Coming from England, I don’t think I’d ever been in a house with so much wood,” he said. “I didn’t even really know what native timber was.
Despite its size, the five-bedroom house is largely hidden from public view. Photo / Supplied
“The amount of wood is phenomenal compared to the UK, where it’s all wallpaper and brick. I loved that. And there are over three acres of space, which was attractive at the time when I had four kids.”
St John also loved the idea that the home had been built from salvaged materials. “I’m pretty into recycling,” he said. “I’m also very much into swimming. The river was a major attraction. My kids would swim in it all summer.”
St John swims most days in the tidal river and had swum four times in one day the weekend before being contacted by OneRoof. “I just call it my swimming pool.”
He and his wife are selling up now that the children have grown up and left home.
He told OneRoof that he ran into Thorpe recently at the theatre – because “Gisborne’s like that” – and Thorpe said he planned to attend the first open home to see what had happened to his creation.
The 285sqm home has an RV of $2.195m and sits on 1.28ha of land but is zoned urban. Bayleys listing agent Jacob Geuze said the sale was an opportunity for someone to buy a very private home tucked down by the river, and to make money from subdividing a couple of sections off by the road.
Geuze said the property was so private that many locals had been surprised by the listing. They didn’t know the home existed. Geuze did, because his younger brother was friends with one of the St John children.
“I think it’s fantastic. These sorts of properties get a lot of attention because they really are unique. Martyn doesn’t like me using the word unique, I have to say. But they have something special about them.
“Our whole team went through and had a look, and the feedback was ‘What an awesome place’.”
Geuze said the Gisborne market had picked up over spring. “Inquiry has been up and the auction rooms have been full of people again. Our last auction was 80% sold under the hammer. And these higher-end properties are attracting buyers. I’ve sold a couple recently for over a million, which for Gisborne is getting into the higher end.”
- 83 Riverside Road, Whataupoko, Gisborne, is for sale, tender closing December 11
